In brief: Violence claims 19 more lives in Iraq

BAGHDAD – Bombings and gunfire in central and northern Iraq killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens on Tuesday, in the latest bloody chapter of a wave of violence that has edged the country closer to all-out internal warfare.

A day earlier, 70 people were killed, and more than 450 have died this month. Most of the attacks are sectarian in nature, with Sunni and Shiite areas targeted frequently.

Tuesday’s violence spread across the country.

A bomb explosion inside a bus killed five commuters in Sadr City, a poor Shiite district in the Baghdad’s east, a police officer said. Five policemen and 20 civilians were wounded.

In Baghdad’s northern Shaab neighborhood, a bomb exploded in the street, killing two people and wounding eight, police said. Another bomb went off in a commercial street in Baghdad’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing one and wounding 10, authorities said.

More than a half-dozen other bombings and weapons attacks were reported around the country on Tuesday.

No one has claimed responsibility for the recent wave of attacks.

Sectarian violence plagues Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar – Sectarian violence spread to a new region of Myanmar, with a mob burning down a mosque, a Muslim orphanage and shops in a northeastern town after rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman, authorities said today.

There were no reported fatalities, according to a police officer and a Buddhist monk in Lashio, the remote northern town near China’s border where the violence erupted Tuesday night.

Deadly sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims has occurred since last year in other parts of the country. The new flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein’s government can or will act to contain the violence.

The government quickly condemned the violence in a statement Wednesday that urged the public to stay calm.

Air Force grounds Okinawa F-15s

TOKYO – The U.S. Air Force grounded its F-15 fighters on the southern Japan island of Okinawa for a safety review today following a crash that forced a pilot to eject over the Pacific Ocean.

All F-15s attached to the 18th Wing on Okinawa’s Kadena Air Base are to undergo inspections during the one-day stand down to ensure that they are safe to fly, the military announced.

An F-15 developed problems during training on Tuesday that forced the pilot to eject. The plane was lost in the ocean, but the pilot was rescued by a Japanese military helicopter and taken to a military hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. No further details, including the pilot’s name, have been released.

Base officials said it was the first crash of an F-15 from Kadena since January 2006.

Cuba expands access to public Internet

HAVANA – Cuban authorities said Tuesday that they are expanding public Internet access with more than 100 new cybersalons across the island, though home Web service remains greatly restricted.

Starting June 4, people can sign up with state telecom Etecsa for temporary or permanent accounts.

Until now, the Internet has been limited to places such as tourist hotels that charge $8 an hour for creaky Wi-Fi, foreign-run companies and some sectors of Cuban business and government. Residential dial-up accounts are rare and restricted.